Previews

Ground Control 2

Massive Entertainment's combination of eye candy and tactical depth is almost here.

Spiffy:

State-of-the-art RTS graphics; nifty new race with unique gameplay.

Iffy:

This much tactical control might be too much for casual players.

Now that Ground Control 2 has gone gold and is cleared to land on retail shelves in June, Vivendi Universal Games and Massive Entertainment are no longer being coy about the specifics of their mysterious alien race, the Virons.

The main gimmick for these fellows is the way they upgrade their units. Instead of resources, players accumulate acquisition points based on how many of the map's strategic points they control. The human race -- the North Star Alliance -- spends these points to buy units, which are then delivered via drop ship. More powerful units cost more points, natch. But the Virons only have a few basic units available for purchase. Once they've been delivered, you can combine two identical units to form a new upgraded unit. They'll meld into an egg sac. Massive's designer called it a "meld bubble," but it looked like a giant green egg. These eggs/meld bubbles are vulnerable to attack, so you won't want to do this on the front lines. However, once the egg hatches, an upgraded unit pops out. What's more, you can break down upgraded units into their components again.

While this approach takes more micromanagement, it gives the Viron player a lot more flexibility. For instance, each unit has a particular type of weapon and armor. Different weapons are more effective against different armors. This offensive/defensive interplay is a significant part of the game's balance. And, while the NSA has to commit to a particular unit mix when he calls in reinforcements with his drop ship, the Virons can field a constantly changing army because upgraded units often have completely different types of weapons. Are your heavily armored tanks getting shredded by NSA armor-piercing weapons? A quick round of morphing might turn the tide.

Ground Assault 2 clearly displays stats for each unit on the interface. You can see a unit's weapon range, viewing range, speed, and so forth when you select it. Because the resource management has been streamlined out of the game, the tactical gameplay has been brought to the forefront. Each unit has different armor ratings for the front, sides, and rear. There's a new command to order your units to move backwards so they don't have to expose their weaker rear armor when they pull back. The different formations should be enormously helpful given the amount of tactical detail.

Every unit also has a secondary mode. For instance, infantry can be toggled to missile mode, which roots them to one location but makes them more effective against tanks. The Viron's Hellfire tanks normally fire missiles, but you can toggle a secondary retreat mode, which shuts down their missiles, but improves their armor and makes them move faster.

Each side also has support weapons. The Viron can call in assault pods, which are dropped from orbit and spit out troops when they land. Think of them as alien paratroopers. They can also call in huge gas bombs. The NSA's support weapons include air strikes and deployable radars that let them keep an eye on far-flung areas of the map.

Ground Control 2 will mark the debut of MassGate, a multiplayer matching service powered by GameSpy technology, with a ranking system will be built into the service. In addition to the standard multiplayer skirmishes, Ground Control 2 will allow up to three players to go through the single-player campaign cooperatively. You can also set up large games that will allow players to join dynamically, very much like an ongoing server for a first-person shooter.

One of the game's biggest selling points is its graphics. In one of the earlier missions, which takes place in a bombed-out urban environment, you can drop the camera in so close that a spectator would think he was watching an action game. A squad of infantry moves among shattered buildings beneath an elaborate skybox. A huge goofy fish sign hovers over an abandoned sushi restaurant. And, once the big guns start firing, especially the devastating artillery, the fireworks rival even the most lush first-person shooters. Real-time strategy games aren't what they used to be, and Ground Control 2 is a testament to how far they've come.